Macbeth

Three witches tell the Scottish general Macbeth that he will be king. He might have left the prophecy to fate. His wife will not. Verdi's 1847 adaptation strips Shakespeare's tragedy to its essential horror: two people who want power badly enough to murder for it, and discover that having it is worse than the wanting. This is not a love story — it is a study of ambition, guilt, and the progressive deterioration of two people who started with everything. This new production opens the Met's 2026-27 season, conducted by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and starring soprano Lisa Davidsen as Lady Macbeth — one of the most demanding dramatic soprano roles in Italian opera. The score is taut and dark, and unlike Verdi's romantic operas, there is no warmth to balance what it shows you.